Michael Spencer, the founder and chief executive of money broker ICAP, has
topped off a roller-coaster six months by being named the first UK winner of
Ernst & Young's Global Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

Mr Spencer, who is also the Conservative Party treasurer, pipped international heavyweights like Anand Mahindra, managing director of Indian giant Mahindra Group, and Li Shufu, chairman of Chinese car maker Geely Automobile, Volvo's new owner, to the title.

He described the award, which he collected in Monte Carlo in the company of his girlfriend, Sarah Walker – the former wife of the Marquess of Milford Haven – as "hugely important".

"It reflects the remarkable success we have achieved over the past 25 years," said Mr Spencer, who is said to be the City's richest self-made man with a fortune of at least £1.1bn.

Mr Spencer, who plans to step down as Tory treasurer in the autumn, launched what was to become ICAP in 1986 with £50,000 and three staff and built it into the world's largest financial middleman, known in the trade as an inter-dealer broker. It conducts $1.5 trillion of trades on average a day and makes its money by charging what Mr Spencer said was a "very small commission rate".

The company had been the best performing financial stock in the FTSE 100 index over 10 years, according to Datastream. But this year its share price has fluctuated wildly, falling from a high of 456p in January to 294p in February after a surprise profits warning.

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It has since recovered to close at 394p last Friday after ICAP posted better-than-expected trading results for the year to March, with pre-tax profits falling 5pc to £333m.

Mr Spencer, 55, courted controversy at the start of the year when he offloaded £45m of his stake in ICAP just weeks before the February profit warning.

His personal business empire includes City Index, the spread betting firm, and his stake in ICAP is worth more than £400m.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph ahead of the decision at the weekend, Mr Spencer said: "It's a very exciting time in the global financial markets. We have come through the most extraordinary financial crisis ever in history and we came through it relatively well. The markets are slowly recovering confidence now. The regulatory frameworks for the markets are changing [and] this is going to throw up some very, very big opportunities. We have invested heavily in technology over the past five years and we think that places us at a competitive advantage for the wave of change that we think is coming."

He added: "Change is always risk and opportunity. We have a very strong view. We hope it is the right view but at least it is a view."

Other entrepreneurs said they also were confident about their prospects. Scott Ouyong, president of Taiwanese bathroom and kitchen equipment maker Globe Union Industrial, which employs 600 of its 10,000 global staff at Manchester distributor PJH, said he was gaining market share in Europe as rivals suffered.

"In the UK we are talking about acquisitions," he said. "We are looking at some distressed companies. We want to enhance our manufacturing side."